


Bottoms Up

by wickedhoney7



Category: Original Work
Genre: Freeform, Nightmares spawn literature, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Triggers, Violent Ideas, what hath my brain wrought?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-03 00:37:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1724744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedhoney7/pseuds/wickedhoney7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, I had a nightmare, and this is what happened.</p><p>Set in modern times, in a slightly alternate universe.</p><p>A girl leads a boy to ambrosia...or something like that.</p><p>The violence is more squicky than actual violence, but I figured I would warn for it anyway.</p><p>Also, there is major discussion of suicide, so if that triggers you, then please pass by.</p><p>I may or may not do more with these characters, but I thought I would share just because.</p><p>Comments and such always appreciated.</p><p>Cheers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bottoms Up

It was the sound of air rushing by without a breeze.

And then it got more concentrated, like a propeller picking up speed, and you knew, if you didn't take cover, you might be hit by a flying eagle.

The birds were an interesting sort; they bonded themselves to another of their kind from almost infancy, a soul mate, as it were, identified not just by their actions, but by a simple woven bracelet around their foot that even the best of artists failed to recreate, and when they were together, it was the most beautiful thing in the face of creation.

When one was lost, you had better keep a sharp ear and an eye to the sky, because though the scientists termed it suicide, if you got in the way of their trajectory, it might as well be 'kamikaze.'

I was only marginally concerned with the girl who had gotten hit during this latest instance of seppukku; I'd seen enough to know that she was alive, and would continue to live, whether they were able to save her leg or not. It was more the boy who had discovered the creature just before her demise that caught my interest. To be witness to something so beautiful and terrifying was a gift, a gift that through either sheer luck or stupidity (my sister would argue it was the latter) I had managed to behold twice in my lifetime.

Though the fact of this 'suicide' was well known, the birds were actually quite a private sort. That the manner of their actions caught attention was simply happenstance; in general, the speeding propeller and the resulting explosion of feathers and such was the only thing witnessed in their ominous ritual.

The boy who witnessed the beginning today, Aidan, they called him, was, in my opinion, one lucky son of a bitch. He had apparently ran outside after some domestic dispute, I really couldn't care what, and climbed into his tree house, presumably to get away or relax or some such nonsense, and then there she was right in front of him:

Haliaeetus leucocephalus, the great American Bald Eagle, with haunting yellow eyes, a two-point-five meter wingspan, and dark brown plumage so soft, one could make a feather bed out of it.

Well, if it wasn't both illegal and highly dangerous to try and do so.

Aidan was listless after the event, half riding, half walking beside the small scooter that was more suited for a grade-schooler than the young man he was, spinning in slow, constant circles on the drive, probably waiting for the feds to disappear, and for the medics to finish their work and take the girl to a more hygienic place so they could continue the healing process.

He didn't even flinch when the girl, whom I presumed to be a relative of sorts from her proximity to the residence, cried out in pain as she was lifted onto a stretched and placed in the back of an ambulance.

Yes, he was clearly absent despite his physical presence, and that was exactly the type of case I loved the most.

"Aidan!" I called congenially, pushing my sunglasses up my face, ignoring the glares from a couple of agents who knew all too well what my purpose was, and held out my hand in invitation. "Walk with me?"

He blinked at me, and I could see the wheels turning slowly in his mind, trying to figure out if I was one of the agents that had been introduced earlier or not, before he decided it didn't matter, and he nodded slowly, and placed his hand in mine, leaving the scooter to drop to the ground with a clank.

He flinched as we walked past the crash site, where several men in hazmat suits were muttering furiously to themselves as they tried to catalogue everything to the best of their poor abilities, but he didn't slow, and my hand tightened in a show of solidarity as we reached the road.

I reached into my side bag and plucked out another pair of sunglasses and passed them to Aidan.

"Trust me, you're going to want your eyes protected," I murmured before the question even finished crossing his face, let alone left his lips, and he nodded, slow again --was that the shock or was he just the sort to take his time? I wondered-- and put the glasses on.

None too soon, for at that moment a large truck passed by, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

"Holy shit."

I felt Aidan's hand startle in mine and smiled. It looked like the feeling was coming back. Another truck passed after a moment, adding more debris to the barely settled cloud, and I tapped Aidan's gaping mouth shut before he ended up swallowing half of the ground.

"You've heard the tradition, right?" I asked softly, waving to one of the drivers that passed. "From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust, all that jazz?"

He nodded mutely, his expression still gaping, but at least his mouth was closed, and my smile grew.

"You see, every time we have one of these instances, we set up a beacon, that sends out a signal to let people know that one of the mighty have fallen. Of course, not everybody gets that signal," I shrugged. "Some people can't afford the equipment, others just don't care. Frankly, I think it's their loss. But this," I finished as another round of trucks passed by, "this is the tribute of the lowly man who walks on earth to the beautiful angels that walk in the sky."

I wasn't sure how much of my words he was really taking in. His hand was tense in mine, and with the sunglasses, I couldn't read his expression for sure, but somehow, somehow I knew. I knew that he understood.

"You wanna take a ride, Aidan?"

His hand jerked in mine and he turned to me in clear surprise.

"What do you--"

He never finished his question as a dirt-encrusted, ruby-red jeep pulled up beside us with a shudder, and a face I both loved and hated opened the passenger-side door.

"Damn it, D, you have the absolute worst timing ever," the tiny blonde complained, though I noted the trace of a smile beneath her words. "Alex and Izzie were about to get married!"

"Oh please," I scoffed, and shuffled into the center seat, pulling Aidan behind me. "You know they get divorced."

"Shush-shush-shush! Don't ruin the magic," she snapped, and I couldn't help but grin as I removed my sunglasses and did introductions.

"Julia Grace, this is Aidan Kempner. Aidan, this is my sister Julia. Aidan saw a goddess die today," I added, and the pout on her face disappeared to be replaced with interest.

"Is that so?"

He nodded mutely --not a real talkative guy, I'd noticed-- and I smiled before nodding behind me.

"And the big silent creep in the back seat is our big brother Percy."

Aidan looked back reflexively, and then stilled, and I stifled a chuckle as I buckled my seatbelt. I knew exactly what he was seeing: a six-foot-six, two hundred and seventy pound linebacker with razor cut blonde hair and the biggest scowl in the universe that even a pair of pretty green eyes couldn't overcome.

"Trust me when I say he's a sheep in wolves' clothing," I said softly, and then scowled at the low chuckle from behind. "You know, you're not doing yourself any favors when you do that evil laugh of yours, Perce."

"I resent that," came the reply, but I rolled my eyes, and patted Aidan's knee as he shut the door.

"Think giant teddy bear. Or possibly Saint Bernard."

"Excuse me?"

"So, did you guys find it?" I asked, feeling only a little disappointed as I took the high road and cut off what would have certainly been an entertaining argument.

"Please," Julia scoffed. "Who are you talking to?"

My grin was immediate, and I relaxed as Julia put the car in drive and zipped between two more trucks that had came to 'pay tribute.'

"One of these days you're going to get us killed," Percy murmured, but her grin matched mine as she ignored the blasting horn behind us and shot him a look.

"But what a way to go, right?"

"Um, where are we going?"

I turned at Aidan's softly-spoken question, and cocked my head to the side.

"Ever heard of ambrosia?"

"Um, yeah," he nodded. "Nectar of the gods or something?"

"Exactly," I grinned. "And today, my friend, you and I will taste it together."

"You're so twisted, D," Julia muttered, eyes focused on the road as she steered, but I shook it off. She just didn't understand, not because she wasn't smart, but because she was too stubborn to open herself up to the possibilities. "You think you're going to get away with it this time, too?"

Granted, the possibilities were borderline illegal, but still.

"Don't I always?" I asked, and heard a soft chuckle from behind. "So, what's our ETA and by the way, how's our radar system coming on? Did we ever figure out how they found us last time?"

"Bug underneath the steering wheel," Percy answered and I frowned.

"How in the hell did they get in the car?"

Julie sent me a look, both stubborn and shamed, and shrugged.

"I had to go to the bathroom. So sue me."

"Don't think I won't," I muttered, and let out a sigh. "But you took care of it, right, Perce?"

"Of course he did," Julie replied in his stead. We both knew that the less Percy had to talk, the happier he was, and Julie, more than anyone, seemed to have a better concept of where the boundaries of conversation for him lay. "You underestimate us far too much, D."

"I'm cautious," I shrugged, and parroted her earlier words, "So sue me."

She laughed, and turned on the radio, and though there was no mistaking the warning glare in my eyes, she nonetheless started singing along when Britney Spears blasted out with " _You drive me crazy!_ "

"God, you have terrible taste in music," I muttered, and glanced back at Aidan. He had removed his own sunglasses, and was spinning them between his hands, and I wondered if maybe, maybe he was still in shock. "You okay?"

I didn't have to worry about the others listening in on the conversation; I could hear the subtle clicks and chirps as Percy worked on his computer behind me, probably checking out our radar system, and Julie was dead to the world the moment she opened her mouth and started singing.

"Uh, yeah," he nodded, but the motion was stiff, stilted, and I sighed.

"Did she talk to you before she died?"

His eyes widened, and I knew I had my answer.

"You know, a lot of people called it blasphemy when we started worshipping them as gods," I began slowly. "Called us delusional, threw out phrases like mass hysteria and apocalyptic nonsense. And then that Dr Stark guy publishes his 'Aquilus, Super Nos' paper and suddenly people are marching on the capital, calling for harsher punishment for poaching, asking to set up sanctuaries, demanding grants to research the 'gods among us' and building temples, and well, you know how it goes," I shrugged. He was maybe just a little bit younger than me, but he would have to be living under a rock not to have known what was going on in the world. "And yeah, there were still those who said it was blasphemous, that the Antichrist had shown himself, and he took the form of a bird in flight."

I smiled a little at the words; they had once been my own, though I didn't think he needed to know that. So much had changed in so short a time, and I wasn't about to push someone off the path to get ahead myself.

"But what so few people know, what they don't like to tell you, is that it's not just a lot of superstition and oblivious obeisance. These eagles, these gods? They're the real thing. And only the chosen few get to experience that truth."

He blinked slowly, and asked, "When?"

My smile grew, and I laughed.

"The first time? I was twelve. Fucker took a bite out of my arm before he offed himself."

I pulled up my sleeve to show him the ghastly scar just over my biceps and his eyes widened.

"Shit."

"You're telling me. I nearly wet myself when I saw the damn thing, and then, stupid me, I thought it would be a good idea to reach out and touch him. Trust me when I say it's not," I laughed, and pulled the sleeve back down. "I have this faint recollection of him apologizing, as if he hadn't meant to let his animal instincts overwhelm his godly ones, but I was kind of lying on the floor, screaming in agony at that point, so my memory may be a little hazy."

"Shit," he said again, and I shrugged.

"Yep. I keep one of his feathers in my little treasure box at home. Probably worth a fortune these days," I acknowledged his shocked expression, "if you can find a black market ring brave enough to sell it."

I let him take that in a moment, and glanced out the window to see the trees rushing by. We had broken off from the pack, now, and I could feel an itch of excitement, telling me we were almost there, almost there.

"You said," he began softly, and I let my eyes drift back to Aidan, watching him frown as he tried to take it all in, "You said that was the first time?"

"That's right."

"So you saw them more than once."

"Twice, actually," I nodded. "Second time was a little less tragic, for me anyway. I was seventeen, almost eighteen. Ran away from home for the millionth time. Trust me when I say that story is too messy to tell," I added at his curious expression and he flushed, abashed, but I let it slide. I wasn't really offended that he was curious; more I was pleased to see some life coming back into the young man who had seemed only a shell less than an hour ago. "Anyway, I come across this abandoned warehouse, and I figured it would be a safe place for the night. And then I saw her."

I couldn't help the sigh as I remembered; it was one of the most intense and terrifying moments of my life. It was also the most beautiful.

"She was amazing," I breathed. "Aquila chrysaetos. A golden eagle, with a wingspan bigger than your bird today, staring at me with eyes like fire, and it was like she could see right through me. She knew everything about me there is to know in an instant, and I can't remember feeling more vulnerable and exposed in my entire life. It was like nothing I've ever felt before or since."

"And she...she spoke to you?" Aidan asked, and I nodded.

"I can't remember exactly what she said--" That was a lie. I remembered everything, word for word. It wasn't something I would ever share with anyone, though, and I shrugged off the lie. "--but her voice was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. Those stupid poems about women with voices like bells? Nothing compared to this. And then," I went on before my emotions could overwhelm me, "she took the bracelet off of her foot, handed it to me, and rose into the rafters before she started spinning, spinning, faster and faster, until she let go..."

Despite the care and deliberation with which I spoke, my emotions had, inevitably, taken over, and I let the rest of the words go, as she had let go, and just let the images bubble up inside of me.

I knew I didn't need to explain to Aidan what came next. I was sure, if fact, that he was seeing the same pictures I was.

The creature spinning faster until it became a blur, and all sense of sound was lost except for the whirring as of a propeller.

The release, sudden and unexpected, disorienting the senses for but an instant as your eyes tried to follow the trajectory.

The smooth, arrow-like precision as she raced to the ground, arcing just so to have the greatest impact.

And then the splat, the crunch, the awful, terrible sounds of a life extinguishing itself that made all the previous beauty seem but a dream, vague, imprecise, and far, _far_ beyond any hope of returning.

"So..." His voice broke me from the vision and I looked up at him with a smile.

"Yes?"

"You were my age, then."

I blinked, and my smile shifted.

"You're eighteen."

"Almost," he nodded, and I started to shift my plans. I, of all people, should know not to trust appearances, and despite _his_ appearance, it looked like he was a little younger than I had thought.

Not that it mattered, really.

Though somewhere, far in the back of my mind, an old, forgotten voice that dimly sparked the words _conscience_ and _morality_ in me said that I was contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

But he had accepted the ride, taken my hand, hadn't he?

_Not my fault_ , I thought, feeling a touch of triumph, and I smiled as Julia turned down the radio --and if I may have said a little prayer asking an eagle to target Katy Perry, no one had to know-- and pulled off the road near an open meadow.

"This is it," she said, satisfied, and I nodded, and glanced toward Aidan.

"You ready?"

"Um..."

A long-suffering sigh sounded from behind me, and Percy said flatly, "Just go, kid. You'll never be able to talk her out of it anyway."

"I think I resent that," I said brightly, but I admit I did feel some relief when Aidan's hesitation ceased and he opened the passenger door. "You coming with, Perce?"

I knew, of course what his answer would be; despite his affinity for sports, he enjoyed more watching from the sidelines and analyzing than actually being put into play. A slow grin crossed his face, and I almost made a crack about him trying to be handsome when he spoke.

"And turn into a lunatic like you and Jules?"

"Hey!" the blonde cried in affront, and his grin only grew as he shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"I'll have you know," Julia huffed as she shut off the engine and opened her door, "That I only tag along to make sure nothing goes wrong. I do _not_ partake of this insanity."

"You just encourage it."

" _Excuse me_?"

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," I sighed, and they shot me glares in tandem, and I laughed a little to myself that they thought nobody would ever know they were brother and sister, no one would ever know they were twins, if they didn't say so. I could see Aidan glancing between them in my peripheral vision, and smiled. People knew. "Can we go now?"

Julia's glare remained a moment, before she settled her face into a carefully disinterested expression and nodded.

"Of course."

"Great."

I slid out after Aidan, and came around the vehicle to stand beside Julia, who had her hands on her hips and was looking around the open meadow in contemplation. The grass was high, knee-length, though patches of wild daisies were sprinkled here and there to break up the monotony, but the quiet beauty of the place did not interest me. No, what interested me was what Julia could see with her eagle-like vision.

Was it blasphemous to use that term?

Not that I cared. I worshipped, I paid tribute, in my own way, and with two misses already under my belt, I had a feeling that the gods took little issue with the way I worked.

"There," Julia nodded, and started walking east, toward a small copse of trees.

I followed quickly after, and felt a jolt of pleasure when Aidan took my outstretched hand and walked with me.

"What are we doing exactly?"

"You ever been on an adventure, before, Aidan?"

He frowned, seeming to seriously think about it, and I smothered my grin as I watched him.

"I got lost in New York City when I was fifteen," he offered after a moment, and the grin emerged unbidden.

"Well, there you go. This is a little bit like getting lost. A little scary, and little weird, a _lot_ fun."

"Fun. Right."

I had a feeling he and I had different definitions of the word, but as he chose to let it slide, I chose to stick by my own. After all, this kid had already had his life turned upside down, through no fault of mine. What did it matter, really, if I sweetened the pot?

"It's up in this one," Julia said, standing beside a tall tree that looked like it had been there for centuries, perhaps even millennia, and I frowned.

"Do I look like I'm dressed for climbing trees?" I asked. It was pure happenstance that I was wearing boots that could be considered appropriate for hiking through the grassland. And she wanted me up a tree?

She glared at me before sighing, and reaching for the lowest branch to pull herself up. Julia may have looked like one of those pixie cheerleaders that get tossed in the air --she often joked that Percy had sucked all of her mass from her in the womb-- but she was pure muscle, and she had scaled the tree in ten seconds flat before she whistled in wonder.

"Is it good?"

Except of course it was. But I still waited impatiently for an answer anyway, and she grinned down at me in delight.

"It's _excellent_. We've got a good half dozen here."

My eyes widened before I returned her grin. In the years that we had been 'feather chasing,' as Percy liked to call it, we usually only found two or three, maybe four. Six was completely unheard of.

And completely welcome.

"Awesome. Toss 'em to me? But one at a time. We don't want to--"

"Not my first rodeo, D," she reminded me, and I shrugged, and held out my shirt to make a net as she dropped the first egg down.

It was pretty, a light golden color speckled with a darker brown, and about the size of my fist. I was sure my eyes were a little dazed as I turned it in my hands before I shook myself out of it, and turned to hand it to Aidan.

"Here. Hold out your shirt, so we can--"

"Oh my god. What the hell are you doing?"

I blinked, noted the horrified look on his face, and sighed.

"Okay. I know this looks bad, but seriously? They're just eggs."

"Just--you've got to be kidding me."

A low growl emanated from my throat, but I cut it off and smiled as I said again, "Hold out your shirt."

"I--"

"Aidan."

I was a pretty laid back person overall. I didn't fuss when things upset me, I rolled with the punches, and if I came across as a doormat sometimes, I didn't mind. If the mood struck me, however, I could also, kill with a look, and Aidan was pretty close to changing me to that mood.

He swallowed at the look in my eyes, but nodded after a moment and held out his shirt.

"Thank you," I smiled, the moment gone, and turned back up to Julia. "Next."

As she tossed the next one down, I decided that, being such a sport as he was, Aidan deserved some sort of an explanation.

"I don't know how well-versed you are in your theology," I began, "but there are several theories as to why these so-called divine beings commit this ritual suicide. The popular one is heartbreak. Two soul mates split by forces beyond their control, and so the other one follows them to the other side. Then there's the idea that goes back to Greek mythology." I put the second egg gently beside the first, looking up to see that he was following me, and nodded once before looking up to where Julia was waiting. "So once upon a time, the gods created this being with four arms, four legs, and a head with two faces. However, Zeus feared their power, so he cut them in half, splitting them and condemning man to always be in search of his other half. By that theory, despite being of perfectly sound body separately, once the eagles found their other half, they became as one." I marveled at the bluish tint to the third egg; how could something so simple be so beautiful? I blushed, then, sure that my thoughts were showing on my face, before I went on. "This would explain the bracelets, as a sort of tie to bring them together. Anyway, so if one dies, the other is suddenly missing half of its body, hence the drive to suicide. I mean, you can't live without half of your body, right?"

"Right."

It was the first word he'd said in minutes, and I couldn't help a smile as I saw that his expression was no longer appalled, but contemplating.

"So there's that. Tied in with that is also the idea that, as divine beings, they cannot truly die, but that they must shed their earthly bodies on a regular basis because such an infinite entity cannot be contained in a finite shell without risk of destroying that shell. So one dies, the other contemplates their supposed mortality and decides not to wait for their body to grow old before joining them in the next body. This isn't too confusing, is it?"

"Uh, no," he shook his head slowly as I placed the fourth and fifth eggs in his shirt --and I was going to ream Julia for that one good once I was done trying to explain existential theory to a teenager-- and watched as a small smile crossed his face. "I studied a little in school, but I'm just finishing my junior year, so they don't really teach in depth that much yet."

"Of course. Plebeians," I scoffed, and then looked up to Julia. "Last one?"

"Last one," she confirmed, and I watched as the fragile sphere seemed to float down to land in my 'net.' This one was gold, like the others, but there was nary a speckle to be found in its design, and I held it close to my heart, wondering if I was imagining the warmth that emanated from it.

I must have been, of course. It had been hours since the eggs had been left by their mother, and though I knew there would be a layer of soft grass over them, I knew too, that once she left, all warmth, all life, was gone.

"I have a theory of my own," I began again, as Julia dropped to the ground beside me.

"You're welcome. Ingrate."

I eyed her suspectly before smiling.

"Thank you. Pixie."

" _What_ did you call me?"

I walked away, back toward the jeep before she could get her head around my words and think about slapping me, as she was wont to do, and Aidan fell into slow steps beside me.

"You have a theory?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Yes. You see, if these eagles really are divine beings, why on earth would they subject themselves to natural birth? I mean, it's gross, whether it's a shell or a uterus you're exiting, and growing up? That's just messy. Growth spurts, puberty, uck."

"Well, what about the eaglets we see? And the ones that aren't yet matured? The ones not matched with their soul mate?"

It was the longest string of sentences he had made all day, and I grinned.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'To live is divine?'"

"Um..."

"I'm pretty sure that divine beings, whether they take human form or not, are actually a lot like us. They lust, they love, they hunger, they sleep. It stands to reason that there are masochists among them."

He burst out laughing and I stopped in surprise. I suppose my statement had been amusing, though I hadn't meant it to be. But no, what caught me was the way his entire face lit up, how his eyes brightened from what I had first termed a dull gray but was now considering a brilliant silver.

"Oh my god," he gasped through his laughter. "That's priceless. Eagles are masochists. Holy shit."

It would probably be a little too obvious if I asked when his birthday was, so I remained silent and only smiled as his laughter finally petered off.

"Sorry," he grinned. "That was just...wow."

"No, it's okay," I smiled in reply, and turned to lean against the hood of the jeep as we reached it.

"So if your theory is correct, and only some of the eagles are...birthed naturally," he began, and I almost laughed at his rephrasing, "then where do the others go? Do they just go to eagle heaven or what?"

"Well, I'm a firm believer in reincarnation. But I rather like the idea of an eagle simply appearing, without going through the mess. Sort of like the Big Bang," I added. "You know, just suddenly _bam_ , and you're there."

"Huh."

"Quit filling the kid's head with nonsense, D," Julia said snidely as she approached. "There's enough bullshit in the public school system already."

"Do you want to join Percy in the car?" I asked quietly, my warning clear, but she rolled her eyes.

"I wish. You know I have to take care of you if something weird happens."

"Nothing weird is going to happen, Julia."

We'd been over this time and time again, but she was stubborn to the end, and simply huffed out a breath. If I didn't know how much she cared, how much she worried, I would probably forget about her; she really wasn't worth much more than her eagle-vision could get me. Still, I could just hear Percy rehashing our arguments once we got back in the jeep --if Julia had eyes like the divine, than Percy had hearing like them-- and I was not really in the mood for a therapy session. The feds had me going to enough of those as it was already.

"So what it comes down to, though," I began, turning back to Aidan, "is that these eggs we just collect? Nothing doing."

He blinked, his expression carefully blank as he asked, "Say what?"

"The moment the eagle leaves to her ritual? Life goes straight out of them."

"Uh..."

"Not just that, but these aren't even really eggs anymore."

"What do you mean?"

I cast a glance toward Julia, but she was tight-lipped; she had said her piece and she obviously didn't want to fight me anymore. I almost admired her for the circumspect attitude, but shook it off. It didn't mean anything anyway.

Looking back to Aidan, I pondered how best to explain it, and then grinned as inspiration struck.

"You ever had one of those Cadbury creme eggs?"

His eyes went wider than they had been before and his mouth dropped open.

"You mean, you _eat_ them?"

While I noted the horror on his face, I did not miss the flicker of interest in his eyes, and I knew I had him.

"I told you we were going to taste ambrosia today, didn't I?"

"But I--you--"

"Nectar of the gods, right?" I grinned.

I was being a bit of an ass; I knew it, and I could tell as his expression slowly changed that he knew it as well, and that was okay. This was one of those things that you couldn't turn back from, and he might as well see everything I had to offer up front.

"...how is that possible?"

I laughed softly and shrugged.

"I could spout theories, give you scientific reports, pass along handbooks that the feds would probably hate me for distributing, but honestly? I have no idea."

And that unknown, somehow, that made it all worth it.

"God, will you two just _get on with it_?"

Aidan jumped and I sighed at Julia's intrusion, but nodded.

"You've got the bucket, right?"

"What, you're not going to indulge today?" she said pithily and I rolled my eyes.

"How could I when you're so afraid of something going wrong?"

She glared at me but yanked open the door to the jeep and reached into the back. I could hear her and Percy murmuring, his voice sounding calm and slightly condescending, her's full of ire and confusion, but I only paid her attention long enough to snatch the bucket --just an ice cream bucket, but it got the job done-- from her and held it out to Aidan.

"Why don't you put them in here, Aidan? We'll start with this one," I said, holding up the golden one I had kept for myself, and while he looked wary, he nodded, and gently poured his load into the bucket. I handed it back Julia who took it wordlessly, and put it back in the jeep, and then, for a moment, I just looked at the egg in my hand.

Not only it's color, but it's shape was flawless. If ever anyone needed proof of the divine hand on earth, this was it. The phantom warmth flittered through me once more, and I looked up at Aidan.

"Shall we?"

"I'm not going to get struck by lightning or something, am I?" he muttered, and I laughed.

"I promise. You will not regret this."

He nodded slowly, though whether he believed me or not, I couldn't quite tell, but the nod was all I needed.

"Okay, then. So let's--"

"What's your name?"

I stopped in surprise, and watched as a pretty blush colored his cheeks, and he shrugged.

"I'm sure we were introduced earlier, but I kind of wasn't paying atten--"

"We weren't, actually," I admitted, and held out a hand. If he was surprised by the admission that he had spent the last hour in a stranger's presence, he didn't show it, and I smiled up at him. "Demeter Grace."

"Aidan Kempner," he replied as he took my hand, smiling in return. "Nice to meet you, Miss Grace."

I rolled my eyes; nobody, not even the feds with their silly rules and regulations, called me Miss Grace. But I kind of liked it, for now , anyway, and I returned the sentiment.

"Likewise. So, here we go, then."

He jumped as I knocked the egg against the hood of the car; I would have laughed, but I could never get past how seamlessly the egg split into two perfectly symmetrical pieces, and I handed half to Aidan, who was staring down at the glinting white creme inside. I hadn't been kidding when I mentioned the holiday candy, and I lifted my half in salute.

"Bottoms up."

The sweet liquid was more than ambrosia, and I watched with delight as colors tilted all around me, and the world changed.


End file.
